Scotch Argus at Smardale Gill 16th August 2024

Today we set off from our home in Oxfordshire to drive to Moffat which is just over the border in Scotland.The journey would take around six hours of now familiar, tedious and boring motorway driving .

On our regular journeys north we always stop at Tebay Services to break the journey and have a bite to eat. This time however I had something extra planned before resuming our journey.

The weather was sunny and at this time of year I knew from previous experience there was a good chance of finding Scotch Argus butterflies at Smardale Gill, only a thirty minute drive east of Tebay.

After lunch we took a long straight road that runs into the fells and following the satnav's instructions soon found ourselves, after a few twists and turns in the pleasant little village of Smardale and the Cumbria Wildlife Trust's discrete reserve car park.

The 49 hectare reserve, now a NNR (National Nature Reserve) and SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) is based along a former railway line that ran from Tebay to Darlington, carrying iron ore to the steel foundries in Barrow and West Cumberland. The line was built in 1862  and follows the route of the Scandal Beck which runs at the bottom of a steep and narrow valley to eventually be spanned  by a spectacular viaduct which carried the railway 90 feet above the beck.The line closed in 1962 and after the usual procrastinations about the cost of preserving and maintaining the viaduct, it subsequently survived with funding from various bodies. 

The reserve first came into being in 1978 when the land was acquired by the Cumbria Wildlife Trust and encompasses the former railway line which is now converted into an  all weather footpath for the use of visitors to the reserve and passes through a mixture of ancient woodland and limestone grassland, running for 1.5 miles from Smardale to the viaduct.

We passed through a gate and walked up onto the top of the embankment where the former railway used to run and followed the footpath through, at first woodland with the embankments dropping away steeply on either side. Soon the footpath was flanked to the left by a rising bank but still with a very steep drop to the beck far below on our right.

A mixture of rank grass and various flowers and bushes grew on the bank to our left and trees such as mountain ash to our right through which the beck could still be viewed and heard below. This was where the Scotch Argus were to be found on my previous two visits.

It took some while to locate a Scotch Argus this time and when we did it was a faded and very tatty specimen clinging for all its worth in a fairly strong wind to the purple blue head of a Devil's bit Scabious. I speculated that maybe we were too late and most of the argus we sought were over. We walked further and eventually came to another 'hot spot' that I recalled from a previous visit that contained a good area of scabious although the butterfly's larval foodplant is purple moor grass. At first this area appeared devoid of any argus but on looking further up the bank a distinctive dark chocolate brown butterfly fluttered and then was followed by two more. A quick check through my bins revealed the dark brown wings possessed  lovely orange bands encompassing black eyespots with white pupils. Scotch Argus! These were in a much more healthy looking condition than the first one we had found.

Even better they descended the bank to rest, open winged on leaves right by the side of the footpath.They really are a gorgeous looking butterfly. Coloured rich chocolate brown that looks almost black when they are newly hatched, the overall uniform colouration  on the open wings only disrupted by the distinctive orange bands

As their name would suggest they are reasonably well distributed in Scotland but are now found in only two locations in England, Arnside Knott and Smardale Gill, both in Cumbria.

The intermittent sunny spells and strong wind were obvious factors in persuading them to limit their flying and to bask on the leaves in order to gain some warmth which  worked in our favour as they were more inclined to remain where they settled.

We carried on heading for the viaduct and found a few more fluttering intermittently amongst the grass but nowhere near the hundreds, that I found with my colleague Peter a few years ago but then that day had been hot, still and very sunnysee here

We met another local butterfly enthusiast and commiserated with him about what an awful year it had been for butterflies and insects in general.He confirmed that the Scotch Argus here had been very much down in numbers this year but nonetheless I was content with what we had seen so far.

We arrived at the viaduct which although not our primary interest is well worth seeing. It is set in the most glorious  countryside, wild and rugged, very much how someone living in the more gentle Oxfordshire Cotswolds might imagine the fells to be. The viaduct was built in 1861 and consists of fourteen arches rising high above the valley floor along which the Scandal Beck continues its course. 

The designer was one Thomas Bouch, he who later designed the Tay Bridge which due to faults in the design disastrously collapsed on the night of the 28th December 1879 in a huge storm, resulting in an entire train and its passengers that was crossing at the time, being lost into the River Tay along with the disintegrating girders of the bridge.

Thankfully Smardale Viaduct has survived although it is now in need of almost constant maintenance to preserve it so it can continue to be part of the footpath.

We stopped here, although you can follow the footpath over the viaduct and carry on into the fells on the other side.While Mrs U took advantage of a bench to rest. I crossed a stile and followed a track which dropped down beside the viaduct and found several more argus here. In all I estimate between us we saw around thirty Scotch Argus.

Time was now pressing so we turned to walk the one and half miles back to the car.

Inevitably various stops were required on the way back to view the argus, as who knows when either of us would pass this way again. On one of these interregnums  I noticed to my immense pleasure a Broad-leaved Helleborine growing amongst the herbage on the bankside and looking more carefully we found another three close by. This for me was equally rewarding as finding the Scotch Argus.

Broad-leaved Helleborine

Our visit lasted less than ninety minutes but the pleasure of walking in the fresh air, on a pleasant day in uplifting scenery, away from the noise and turmoil of the motorway was just the tonic we required and we headed north revitalised.